Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[mara1]

Hi everyone

Sorry to hear about your losses. I'm so jealous of those of you that live in rural areas(maybe someday). Luv all your pics of your critters!!! The barn looks great btw. Bored at work wishing I could be home doing some stuff. It seems it always is a crappy weather when I have time off.

 

[mara1]

Amastacia, this is a copy/paste of the letter I sent yesterday.
There are MICHIGAN House of Representatives. That you should contact. This is what I was told at the agricultural meeting that I went to at MSU extension office with Raz, and Wingless...
There is power in numbers...

Mr. John Bumstead
My name is Deanna. My husband and I recently purchased a home on 59 acres in Baldwin, MI. After much searching we were unable to find reasonably priced farm land, and instead found this 59 acres where we are raising chickens. We are enjoying teaching our children about animals and caring for our environment as well. They are learning to compost and fertilize our garden with what many consider "garbage". Unfortunately not everyone is as excited as we are about our chickens. Lake township has an ordinance against owning chickens, and we have been cited with an ordinance violation. Our chickens cannot be seen, heard or smelled from any neighboring property. We have asked the township to rezone us as agricultural since it is currently zoned residential. We have already been told "that is never going to happen" (getting re zoned agricultural).
Frequently agricultural property gets re zoned to residential to allow for subdivisions and other housing, but we are losing farms and farm land at an alarming pace. I would appreciate your attention to this problem. We would like to preserve our farm, and get and keep it zoned as agricultural.
We are MAEAP verified proving we are GAAMPS compliant and environmentally friendly. We sell cage free organic eggs, and educate our children with our chickens. It's unfortunate the township is so against our business.
Please respond to our situation. Your response is appreciated,
Deanna Gualtieri

That's crazy you have 59 acres and can't have chickens??? You would think you could do what you want on your own property regardless of size as long as its not illegal and your not hurting something/someone.

 

[tsetse9]

I have a newbie question. I am still awaiting my very first egg. My oldest pullets are about 22 or 23 wks old. One of those, the silver wyandotte had a very red face lately, the other, an easter egger a little less red. I was hoping as a read that that was a sign of eggs to come soon. Today when I went out there, the wyandottes face is not nearly as red anymore. Just wondering if anyone knows the reasons why? Is it due to temperatures or stress or anything else you know off?

 

[RaZ]

I have a newbie question. I am still awaiting my very first egg. My oldest pullets are about 22 or 23 wks old.

The 20 weeks to point of lay (POL) is a general rule of thumb and and seems to apply mainly to breeds that are typically egg machines. Some breeds will take longer. Your hens will lay when they are ready. And it drives all of us crazy waiting for that first egg.

Even the same breed has different schedules. I had BSLs that started to lay at 20, 24 and 28 weeks. They were all from the same hatch. Patience.

 

[RaZ]

Here are examples of a few letters that you can adapt to your specific situation.
http://www.michigansmallfarmforum.com/index.php?/topic/111-example-letters/

Here is the state website for finding your representative.
http://www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/

Your state senator.
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysenator/fysenator.htm

And a general starting point to search for most things government related to the State of Michigan.
http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-29701---,00.html

 

[tsetse9]

The 20 weeks to point of lay (POL) is a general rule of thumb and and seems to apply mainly to breeds that are typically egg machines. Some breeds will take longer. Your hens will lay when they are ready. And it drives all of us crazy waiting for that first egg.

Even the same breed has different schedules. I had BSLs that started to lay at 20, 24 and 28 weeks. They were all from the same hatch. Patience.

ya, i am trying my hardest to be patient, but mostly was just curious about the change in the redness of the face. Is that pretty typical?

 

[RTFchickens]

Mara1, we agree that we should be able to keep chickens on our 59 acres. We hope to defend our case in court using Right To Farm. We live in Lake township, and there is a local township ordinance stating we are not permitted to keep farm animals or fowl on our residentially zoned property. Our home is 6/10ths of a mile off the road, and chickens cannot be seen nor heard from neighboring property. We are hoping to get rezoned agricultural so we can get goats as well. We will likely aquire more animals reguardless of zoning citing RTF.
I think this is a battle that will get larger as time goes on. Farm land gets rezoned to residential all the time. We likely won't have a chance in the world to get rezoned as agricultural. And giving townships say over weather we can keep chickens on OUR property that WE pay for, AND pay taxes on will likely push many of us out of legally owning chickens. RAZ knows this song all too well.

 

[Amy PT]

ya, i am trying my hardest to be patient, but mostly was just curious about the change in the redness of the face. Is that pretty typical?

One of the reasons their face gets red is because they might be close. That happened with our silver laced Wyandotte and 2 others the month they started laying. Here's one thread about facial colors in hens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/548220/what-does-facial-color-mean-shades-of-pink-and-red

It's an exciting time. Good luck to them!

Our silkie started laying last week. All 4 of our ladies are now producing. Starting from the top: silkie, SLW, d'uccle, australorp.

 

[jimmywalt]

I'm up in Twin Lake, not too far!!

Thanks for the reply! Would love to see your hens. We only have 5 chickens and are trying to "fly under the radar" in our subdivision keeping them in our back yard. I'd love to see a "real" flock sometime! PM me if you would be interested. Thanks.

And thanks to everyone else who replied. I would have never guessed that there would be so many people on this website and in this thread from my neck of the woods.

I don't want to say exactly where I live because I'm not sure that we can have chickens. I "believe" that the requirement is that you must own at least 1 acre of land.... and we are a bit under that mark living in a subdivision.

My wife, 3 yr old son and I would love to visit some places that have some "real" chickens (more than our 5 little hens).

 

[RaZ]

Our silkie started laying last week. All 4 of our ladies are now producing. Starting from the top: silkie, SLW, d'uccle, australorp.

As my girls reached POL, I could tell by the egg which hen laid it. That is a benefit of a small flock. The only ones that I could not tell were from the ISA browns. I just knew that the egg was from an ISA.


There are a lot of west side people here. There are a lot of Michigan people here. And I suspect that there are far more Michigan chicken people trying to stay under the radar. So many people are frightened by the potential to be "outed" as a chicken keeper.

And thanks to everyone else who replied. I would have never guessed that there would be so many people on this website and in this thread from my neck of the woods.

I don't want to say exactly where I live because I'm not sure that we can have chickens